With unemployment stuck at 8.2%, campaigns accentuate the negatives | Robin Wells
Source: www.guardian.co.uk - Friday, July 06, 2012
As only 80,000 jobs were added in June, Mitt Romney blames President Obama, while Obama says Romney would be worse So we have yet another disappointing jobs report, as the US economy added only 80,000 jobs in June – lower than the average forecast of around 90,000 new jobs in June and only marginally greater than the 77,000 jobs added in May. This follows a report earlier this week that manufacturing, which had appeared to be rebounding, was facing the lowest level in eight months, as the Institute for Supply Management's factory index fell to 52 in June . While the jobs report is not catastrophic, it means that the economy continues to be stuck in low gear, unable to add enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate. At 8.2%, the unemployment rate has exceeded 8% since February 2009, the longest documented period that it has been so high since 1948, when monthly unemployment rate records began. What is particularly dispiriting is that this follows a period of higher growth in late 2011. After gross domestic product had risen by 3% in the last three months of 2011, the growth rate fell back to 1.9% during the first three months of 2012. Economic research by Ken Rogoff of Harvard University and Carmen Reinhart of the Peterson Institute has shown that in the wake of a severe financial and banking crisis, economies can take up to a decade to bring unemployment and growth rates back to pre-crisis levels. But the US economy has faced add
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Disappointment as US economy added 80,000 jobs in June - live coverage
Source: www.guardian.co.uk - Friday, July 06, 2012
• Tepid economy adds just 80,000 new jobs in June • 'Not surprised but disappointed' is market reaction • Slowest quarterly job growth for two years • National jobless rate remains stuck at 8.2% • Black unemployment rises sharply to 14.4% 12.42pm: The NYT's Nate Silver returns to the scene of the jobs report this morning – and says there are three questions to answer, among them Is this a game changer?: Before the January job numbers were released, I wrote that 150,000 jobs added per month would make Mr Obama roughly break-even for re-election given his approval ratings at that time. Between the strong numbers in the first few months of the year and the weaker ones recently, almost exactly 150,000 jobs per month have been created so far in 2012. However, Mr Obama seems to have gotten the benefit of the doubt from voters. His approval ratings improved some early in the year, but have not yet declined much with recent jobs reports. 11.30am: I'm joining Ana Marie Cox for a live chat now. (It's finished now but feel free to read the replay here . Thanks to everyone who took part.) 11.15am: I'll be discussing the latest jobs numbers and the political climate with the brilliant Ana Marie Cox in a LIVE CHAT using computers . Please follow along and send questions, thoughts and revelations, from 11.30am ET – about 15 minutes from now. 11.09am: Obama 's still on the stump speech part. But here we go: Describing the latest jobs report, "th
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